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The Platform

Spoken Word Open Mic on the 1st Thursday of the month, for any type of performances; Poetry, prose, short stories & music (5 min. slot). I love it!

(No Platform in August or January) Hi, I'm Abby G Poetree and I have been hosting The Platform poetry open mic night since May 2018. I've been writing my own poetry for 30 years and I love hearing what the local talent has to offer. The Platform is a free night of inspirational entertainment for everyone.

13/10/2026

For October's open mic, we invited the fabulous Mr Blandford Cavern to be our featured poet!

Once our audience was throughly warmed up, Mr Blandford Cavern performed a delightfully witty selection of poems, delivered with his trademark style of deadpan humour.

His set was structured chronologically, taking us on a journey from 1975 to the present day.

From a love poem he wrote for his teacher, and collecting collections of collections in 'Save Me', to the hilarious 'No One's Ever Died of Hunger on a Cruise', Mr Blandford Cavern's quick fire alliteration made us all dizzy!

We grimaced to the brilliantly graphic answer to what happens when you cross a good joke with a heavy cold in 'The Consequence of a Cold and a Joke'.

Times are getting tougher, so Mr Blandford Cavern introduced us to his own personal recession indicator in 'Getting Smaller'. Spoiler: it's a shrinking Mars bar!

Next on the setlist was the very first poem Abby G heard Mr Blandford Cavern perform all those years ago! Safe to say, 'Bring Back Hanging' is still just as hard-hitting.

After the break, Mr Blandford-Cavern returned to the stage for a sensational second set. He told us all about his favourite colour with 'Purple Heart,' and made us laugh with fan-favourites 'I'm Glad You Didn't Come to My Funeral' and 'You Love Your Cat More Than Me.'

Before the last poem of the night, we took a trip to Skerryvore with 'Dead Man's Chest,' which was written there in response to a writing workshop Abby G ran a few years ago.

Mr Blandford Cavern left us with a theatrical (and somewhat supernatural!) performance of the suitably spooky 'Resurrection of the Dead.'

For the final portion of the evening, Mr Blandford Cavern invited his musical group, Uncut Diamonds to the stage! Our audience toe-tapped and nodded along to an exclusive concert of their greatest hits before we finished for the night.

As they say, always finish on a song!

12/10/2026

October's open mic focused on the theme of Wonder! 🌠

Abby G Poetree started the proceedings with a reading of Phil Genoux's poem 'Buzzards', from the latest issue of the Jawbone Journal.

Her second poem ('I Wonder' by Genie Kirby) introduced the theme of wonder for the evening, whilst her original poem 'How I recognise a tree', was a timely selection for the autumn season.

Before handing the mic to our first performer, Abby read one more poem for us: 'The Story of the Sloe Fairy' by Cicely Mary Barker in honour of the recent Flower Fairies exhibition at the Russell-Cotes Museum.

Vicky was the first poet called to the stage. Her poem 'Wonderfully You' celebrated the wonder of being alive and marvelled at the intricacies of the human body.

Platform regular Phoenix continued the theme of wonder with his poems 'Where My Wings Find Wonder', and 'Wings Through the Moonlit Wild.'

Up next, Scottish Claire shared a poignant poem about saying goodbye to the family dog, entitled 'Cherry Blossom.'

Tom read a poem from his new collection, Rewritten Rulez, which got us all thinking, 'When was the last time I sat on a lonely park bench simply to appreciate the wonder of the world?'

With our audience throughly warmed up, this month's featured poet began his first set. Mr Blandford Cavern performed a delightfully witty selection of poems, delivered with his trademark style of deadpan humour. (We'll talk more about Mr Blandford Cavern's setlist in tomorrow's post!)

After the break, S. Penny Smith opened the second half with a reading of 'Gate C22' by Ellen Bass. She recently discovered this poem and found it expertly illustrates the power of poetry to celebrate the unique wonder of each seemingly mundane moment.

Our next open mic performer drew inspiration from the wonder of women's bravery. Jodie's poem celebrated the achievements of notable femimist activist Emily Davison, while also praising the courage of today's women who keep going in difficult circumstances.

Amy reminded us of how important our connection to nature is, with her poem 'In The Forest, I Feel Reset.'

Tim invited us to marvel at the unique wonder of the Dorset landscape, before making us laugh with the haiku he penned for his 30th wedding anniversary.

Gerry shared some introspective song lyrics which put us in the shoes of an elderly couple, who are 'looking with wonder in a world with nothing left to say.'

Paulus, our final open mic performer of the evening, wondered aloud with his poem 'A Thoughtful Daydream.'

Our featured poet, Mr Blandford Cavern, returned to the stage for a sensational second set.

For the final portion of the evening, Mr Blandford Cavern invited his musical group, Uncut Diamonds to the stage! Our audience toe-tapped and nodded along to an exclusive concert of their greatest hits before we finished for the night.

As always, a big thank you to all our performers, and an extra special thank you to Mr Blandford Cavern and the band.

We'll be back for another open mic on 5th November! See you then.

02/10/2026

Last night's open mic was certainly filled with wonder!

Our lovely poets shared poems that made us stop and appreciate the little things we take for granted every day - from celebrating the natural world to marvelling in the unique possibility of our existence.

A big thank you to our featured poet, Mr Blandford-Cavern and his musical group, Uncut Diamonds! We all thoroughly enjoyed the witty wordplay and clever comedy of Mr Blandford-Cavern's poetry.

As they say, always finish on a song! Lucky for us, Uncut Diamonds treated us to a special performance to close out the evening.

Full write-up to follow 🌠

01/10/2026

Join us for our open mic tonight for a special performance from the fabulous Mr Blandford Cavern!

Dorset born and bred, Mr Blandford Cavern started writing poetry in his teens on subjects that stirred his imagination such as seagulls showing off, girls brushing their hair and where does Salisbury Cathedral go to at night? He wrote poems for the school newspaper and had poems published by Poetry Now, Arrival Press and Anchor Books.

Teaching himself to play guitar, he put his poems to music and formed his first group Terbium J. Pursuing a music career, he recorded 40 of his songs in 9 different studios culminating in 500 copies of an EP pressed by The Madding Crowd. A track released nationally received radio airplay.

Performing poetry since the 1990’s in Coventry, Mr Blandford Cavern has performed in the local area at open mic nights such as Wordmakers, Poetry on the spot, Verbal Remedies, Getting Poetical and of course, The Platform. His current musical band is the six-piece folk, pop, blues, ska collective ‘Uncut Diamonds’ based in Poole.

Witty, inventive and often cynical, Mr Blandford Cavern delivers his on-point poetry with deadpan humour.

21/09/2026

In case you missed it...

Following a summer break, The Platform returned on Thursday 3rd September - and it was back to school for all of us with our theme, "Every Day's A School Day".

We continued with our ‘unplugged’ initiative, with no Wi-Fi and phones in airplane mode to keep the event accessible for our host who struggles with EMF sensitivity. It also ensured a distraction-free atmosphere to be fully present for the poetry in the room.

Abby G opened the evening with a tribute to Bournemouth poet Colin Hunt, who sadly passed away over the summer. Her moving poem, "Melted Ice Cream" captured the last few weeks of his life and the impact of his passing. Abby invited the poets in the room to share thoughts, memories and tributes to Colin alongside their on-theme poems for the night, as well as to check out Colin's poems which are featured on Bournemouth Library's "Writings On The Wall".

Abby then shared an extract from Kahlil Gibran's "The Prophet", and a humorous extract from her Coincidence Diary about Pink Floyd's "Another Brick In The Wall" to tie into the theme.

Following this, we welcomed our first "poet" - or perhaps, songwriter! - Mr. Blandford-Cavern, sharing two songs loosely on-theme and in tribute to Colin. The first, "Lonely In A Crowded Room", was inspired by his experiences in moving to Romsey as a young man. While the second - "Heartface" - got the whole audience singing along with him.

Linda then joined us to share her poem, "Bedtime Stories", a rhyming tale (and warning!) on the consequences of global warming. Her second poem then explored whether bumblebees have feelings, and what we might learn from that.

Amy shared her moving reflection, "Know-It-All", examining her path to self-learning through the years.

Next, Ivan joined the stage wearing a shirt very much in the taste of something Colin might wear, and shared two poems inspired by his experience of being a father: "My School Bag" and "These Furrows I Have".

To close the first half, Tim Heywood shared a heartfelt free-verse tribute to Colin, followed by a humorous tanka on the theme of "Everyday's A School Day".

We had Tom Shaw welcome us back for the second half, standing in as co-host in the absence of S. Penny-Smith and C.W. Blackburn. He shared some of his memories of Colin and his poems, along with two poems from his book Go Forth, Butterfly! related to the theme: "A Day At The Office" and "The Blame Game".

Then, we had Platform first-timer Katherine grace the mic, where she shared two poems on the sea ("Mother Sea" and "I am, Therefore I Swim"), and a poem "Dear Child Inside" - with the idea of both the sea and her life experiences having something to teach her.

Amy returned to the stage with an additional poem on what she had learned from the harmful behaviours in the past.

Then, we had another first-time Platformer - Jodie - share an untitled poem on a teacher at school who went above-and-beyond to help her when she was struggling most.

Finally, Katherine returned to the stage with one additional poem, "She Recovers", championing self-education and self-awareness.

Tom and Abby closed the night with gratitude for everyone's memories of Colin and their poems.

We’ll welcome poets back to Camden on Thursday 1st October for our next Platform 💫

10/08/2026

We need your help!

Each month at The Platform, we like to raffle off a mystery poetry book. We do this because we believe poets should be paid for their art, and selling raffle tickets helps us pay guest poets for their performances.

To continue this tradition, we desperately need donations of second-hand (or new!) poetry books. If you've got a few titles just gathering dust on your shelf, please bring them along in September.

Until then, we'll be scouring the shelves at our local Oxfam bookstore!

07/08/2026

Purbeck Valley Folk are looking for poets to compete in their annual poetry slam!

The two first-round heats will take place on Saturday 22nd August, where poets will have just three minutes to impress the judges (and the audience!)

Poets with the highest scores will perform two poems each in the grand finale on Sunday 23rd August. Deadline to apply: 10 August 2026

Want to be involved? Prep your poems and email the host (Shaun Gary Palmer) for all the info: [email protected]

Read more about the slam rules here: https://www.purbeckvalleyfolkfestival.co.uk/whats-on/poetry-slam/

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46 Seamoor Road, Westbourne
Bournemouth
BH49AS

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